CCH Standard Federal Tax Reports Quotes Mark Allison: Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Challenges to IRS Summonses

CCH Standard Federal Tax Reports quoted Mark D. Allison concerning the Supreme Court's decision in United v. Clarke. On June 19th the Supreme Court held that a taxpayer has the right to examine IRS officials and their reasons for issuing a summons. However, the taxpayer must provide credible evidence to support their claim. For the full story, please click on the link above to view a PDF.

Excerpt taken from the article.

"The Clarke decision reflects a logical effort by the Supreme Court to balance the government's need to use a summons as an investigative tool and the tax- payer's legitimate but difficult right to challenge the good faith use of the summons," Mark Allison, member, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, New York, told CCH. "The Supreme Court recognized the reality that tax- payers do not typically possess hard evidence of a lack of good faith but a court may reasonably find a plausible basis for such concerns that warrant further inquiry," Allison noted.